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Work begins on North West Rail Link

The start of geotechnical work on Sydney's North West Rail Link shows the NSW Liberal government is committed to delivering transport infrastructure, says Premier Barry O'Farrell.

A drilling rig was set up on Tuesday at a park opposite Castle Towers shopping centre in Sydney's northwest.

The plan is for one of the rail link's stations to be built under the park.

The North West Rail Link was promised several times, in various forms, by the former NSW Labor government, but never delivered.

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Tuesday's state budget allocated $314 million to the project for 2011/12, with provisional total funding of $2.5 billion over four years.

At least 150 boreholes will be drilled at various locations along the proposed 23km route between Rouse Hill and Epping.

"This is a project that we promised, it is being built, it will be delivered, no ifs, no buts, no maybes," Mr O'Farrell told reporters at the site on Wednesday.

"We were elected promising projects like this. We came to power understanding that we had to end Labor's cycle of promise and non-delivery, that we would match infrastructure with population growth."

Most of the $314 million already set aside for the project would be spent on land acquisition, Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian said.

"But also for the work you need to do to make sure you can get tunnel boring machines in the ground," she said.

The full cost of the project would be known by the end of this year, the minister said.

The North West Rail Link, serving 300,000 residents in Sydney's northwest, will have at least six new stations, at Cherrybrook, Castle Hill, Hills Centre, Norwest (Business Park), Kellyville and Rouse Hill.